If you see a wild Peacock in your yard, you’d probably want to give it some food.
Fortunately, Peacocks are very easy to please.
You can feed a wild Peacock in your backyard by giving it protein, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Bell peppers, berries, leafy greens, and seeds are some of the ideal vegetables you can give a wild Peacock.
For the protein, the Peacock should be able to find insects on its own; however, you can give it cat food or game feed that contains animal-based protein.
To learn more about what you can feed a wild Peacock in your backyard, keep reading.
This article covers in detail what you can give Peacock and what foods are best depending on the time of the year.
Let’s get started.
What Do Peacocks Eat?
If you want to know what to feed a wild Peacock in your backyard, it’s helpful to know what these birds eat in their natural habitat.
By mimicking their diet, you can feel confident that the bird is getting healthy nutrients that it needs and enjoys.
Peacocks are omnivores, meaning they eat meat, as well as vegetation. In short, it won’t be too challenging to feed a Peacock.
They will literally eat anything you feed them.
You can break down the Peacock’s diet by categories like these:
- insects
- vegetables
- fruit
- legumes and grains
- meat
Insects
If Peacocks were able to, they’d say insects would be their choice for favorite food.
Insects are good protein and fairly easy to find. Some of the favorite insects that are commonly eaten by Peacocks include ants, centipedes, crickets, millipedes, and termites.
Peacocks do love insects so much that they can be seen actively looking for flowers and other places to find insect food.
Have You Noticed: So, it may look like the Peacocks are eating the flowers, but most likely they’re eating the insects around the flowers.
Vegetables
The Peacock’s preferred food is insects, however they eat quite a bit of vegetables as well.
They typically find their vegetables in:
- grass
- grass seeds
- cabbage
- leafy greens
- celery
Peacocks may sometimes open vegetables and sift through them for the seeds, leaving the flesh of the vegetable unconsumed.
Fruit
In addition to fruits, Peacocks are big eaters of fruits. They frequently eat papaya, watermelon, pineapple, and berries.
Also like vegetables, Peacocks are sometimes known to tear apart fruit just to get to the seeds inside it.
Legumes and Grains
You can probably guess why peacocks like legumes and grains- they’re pretty much just a vessel for seeds.
Peacocks will eat almost any kind of seed they can find, and have been known to eat nuts and legumes as well.
Some of the time: Peacocks will eat certain grains like barley or wheat, but polygamous birds, or birds that generally get grain will not eat as much grain as other birds.
Meat
Insects are the main protein source for Peacocks.
Occasionally, they will eat traditional meat, especially that of amphibians and reptiles. The meat they eat is all very, very small.
More likely, Peacocks will only eat the amphibians and reptiles, if the animal just happens to be in the area they occupy.
What to Feed a Wild Peacock
When bringing a wild Peacock food, try to copy their diet as mentioned above.
Just offer insects, vegetables, fruits, and legumes. Although you could offer grains and meat, Peacocks do not need a high amount of either.
For all Peacocks, you want to aim for a diet that is around 20% of protein, but you can go a little higher.
The rest of the diet can be made up from fruits and vegetables, grains and legumes.
What to Feed Peacocks in the Summer
In summer, try to feed the Peacock in your backyard some fruits and vegetables.
The fruits and vegetables give the Peacock some nutrients and helps with hydration.
We suggest bell peppers and berries. These foods are yummy to the Peacock and will attract bugs.
The wild Peacock gets to enjoy protein, fruit, as well as vegetables from these foods.
You might want to think about putting some fresh water out for the Peacock. Peacocks do not need a lot of water, but having an extra bowl out may be nice during the hot months.
More than likely: The Peacock will not have an issue finding bugs since they are so plentiful this time of year.
What to Feed Peacocks in the Winter
When the temperatures drop in the winter, all animals try to bulk up in order to survive the temperature and meagre resources – Peacocks are no different.
Therefore, you need to feed your wild Peacock significantly more protein than you did in the summer. While you shouldn’t neglect fruits and vegetables, ultimately it is protein that is the most important thing the Peacock needs, this time of year.
Since the cold weather will be killing off most reptiles, amphibians, and insects; you can scatter cat food or a specialized game feed on the ground.
Both of these foods are providing protein in the birds diet. More importantly, the protein is animal protein and not pea or plant protein.
The reason we suggest cat and poultry feed instead of dog feed is that many brands of dog food use plant source protein. While plant protein is not bad for Peacocks, it is not as good for animal protein.
You can obviously buy cat food at just about any store you visit. The same can not be said of feed game.
Be Creative: You can do a search online to find feed game specific for Peacocks or other birds like them. You might even check your local farming store.
What Foods to Avoid Feeding Wild Peacocks
It’s fine to feed a wild Peacock, and even food if you want but remember not to give it all of its food unless you mean to care for the Peacock in the future too.
For the occasional treats, here are some foods that you should not use when feeding the wild peacock in your yard.
Rotten Food
Obviously, don’t provide food waste or rotten foods for the Peacock.
Just as rotten food will hurt your stomach, it will hurt the Peacock too.
Processed Food
Avoid feeding wild Peacocks junk food or highly processed food.
Crackers, chips, pizza, burgers, tacos, etc are all bad choices for the Peacock.
The number of ingredients in these foods can irritate the Peacock’s belly, and so are the preservatives and chemicals.
Fatty Food
Wild Peacocks shouldn’t eat excessive fatty substances, especially when it comes to food. That includes processed foods (burgers and chocolate) but can also include fresh fruits and vegetables (avocados).
Drinks to avoid
Take care in what beverages you’re providing these wild Peacocks!
Freshly make juices and fresh water will be fine. However, serve no teas, sodas, coffees, or alcohol.
Also, processed juices have way too much sugar and additives. Just don’t give them.
Final Thoughts
If you ever look out the window and find a wild Peacock in your yard, feel free to give it fresh fruits and vegetables. In general, try to offer fruits and vegetables that have a lot of seeds for the added protein.
During summer, there’s no need to add any more dietary protein for the Peacock but if you considering feeding cat food or game bird feed in winter, it is helpful.
Regardless of what you feed the Peacock, make sure to be responsible with feeding habits. If you are not interested is taking on the responsibility of taking care of the Peacock; DO NOT feed it so much that is becomes dependent on you.
Feel free to put out the occasional fruit or vegetable for the bird to find.